On Wednesday, Sept. 18, Cat Garza posted the following on his message board:

'i've come to a difficult decision, but something had to be done. i was at the end of my rope. a lot of it, self inflicted, but the pressure to be "cat the webcartoonist" had taken its tole.

'i've fought the good fight, run the race, and came up somewhere in the middle. i've seen my love for comics turn sour with the years of struggle and limited success. and let's face it. there's just too many cartoonists in this world for there to be one more, don't ya think?

'ok. that last part may have been a tad melodramatic, but the point is: i'm taking a break from comics. well, webcomics anyway. there'll be the occasional one/three/four/five pager in random anthology. maybe some minicomics. but absolutely, positively NO webcomics for a while. i'm tired. i'm done. stick a fork in me. '

As news of Cat's hiatus from webcomics rolled through the comics community, the numerous well-wishing notes posted on message boards inspired me. I'd been thinking about a cartoonist jam for the premiere issue of Longplay, and here was a subject both unique and compelling-- the hiatus of one of webcomics' most well-known and beloved artists.

This then would be the challenge to cartoonists-- to imagine what Cat would be doing on his hiatus from webcomics.

After getting Cat's and Joey Manley's permission, I announced the jam to the Modern Tales cartoonists, and invited artists who'd been frequenting Cat's message board (at least the ones he could scrounge up an email address for.)

But as the submissions came streaming in, at the same time Cat's resolve to take a hiatus evaporated! Finally, on Monday, Nov. 4, Cat posted to his message board:

'i can't stay away from comics. i lay awake at night thinking about drawing. i'm moping around like a kid that found out there wasn't gonna be any christmas this year. the ideas are coming so hard and fast, it's hard to concentrate. i love getting mail from readers. i love posting something new.

'what can i say. i'm a dork.

so....

'i'll be updating CUENTOS later this week and posting a magic inkwell strip every saturday.

'hope this is ok with everyone.

'it was a nice couple months break, though...'

Though the hiatus itself was now history, the artwork for the jam had been completed. And since the artists' contributions leaned heavily towards the absurd anyway, it seemed fitting to be commemorating a hiatus that was now over. Thoughts of kidnapping Cat and forcing him to take a longer hiatus were quickly dismissed as being in poor taste and probably illegal.

Finally, a technical note-- the jam was originally planned to be one giant page, spelling out the word 'Cat'. Unfortunately, this turned out to be too much for the Imageready software used to create the page. The composition was broken down into three pages, one for each letter, which proved to be more manageable.

--Joe Zabel